What I am Loving

My little Levi, my precious angel, is already three months old. At the risk of sounding redundant I must express my concern at my inability to effectively describe all of the amazing moments I experience with my baby. It is late, and I am tired. But I spent a few minutes this evening watching some videos of 2 week old Levi. Oh how difficult it is to see the gradual changes that are taking place every day, until I look back at the tiny baby he once was. It really hurts my heart to think of the inevitable passing of time. Life is not easy, even the best parts about it bring pain. Without any more ado, I am just going to jot down a few things I am loving about this 3 month old season.

1.      I love when Levi sees me and I can watch the recognition and joy on his face. He has really grown to know and love his mommy, and it melts my heart.

2.      My favorite thing has been when I catch my sweet boy looking at me with the most loving expression, even when I am not looking. I feel the need to drop whatever I am doing so that I can live in that moment, where his love for me is written so clearly in his sweet little face.

3.      I love when he first wakes up from a good nap in his car seat and he is just staring down with his fat cheeks and huge eyes. The expression on his face makes me laugh to think about. I will have to make sure I get a picture of it.

4.      When Levi is hungry and I am just getting ready to feed him, it is the cutest thing the way he opens his mouth as wide as it will go, waiting for his food. So sweet.

5.      When he is getting full while nursing or he is getting distracted he has been smiling at me from his place at my chest. Sweetest moment.

6.      The cutest thing ever. Levi loves to tell his dad about his day. He talks to me too, all the time. But there is something different when he talks to his dad. When Cory gets home from work and spends some time with Levi, he looks in his eyes and just starts talking. It is really as if he wanted to tell his daddy all about everything that he did with mommy that day. So sweet.

7.      A few days ago Levi was having a hard time going down for a nap. After letting him fuss and whine for a while I came to comfort him. I rubbed his head and started singing to him. His eyes just locked on mine and he smiled. After a few minutes his eyes started getting heavy and he would close them a second, only to open them right back up to find my eyes and smile. He did that several times before he finally gave in and drifted off in to sweet baby dreamland.

8.      When he is in a really happy mood and gets excited he occasionally lets out the most adorable, abrupt little giggle. His whole body reacts with happiness. It is as if he cannot contain his excitement. It is enough to make me laugh out of joy every time.

9.      I love the way his little hand rubs or pats my chest while he is nursing. Such special moments the two of have together while he nurses.

10.   Sometimes he gets the sweetest little shy smile. He will be smiling big and then blink really slowly and look down before looking back at you. As if he wasn’t already ridiculously cute, I can just see what a sweet little nature he has.

Down the line when my memory begins to fade in regards to all the little things my baby does, at least I will remember some of these precious moments. The moments that life is made of. I can hear the faint breathing of my sweet baby and the not quite as faint breathing of his daddy. I think it is time for me to join them. Such a wonderfully blessed life.

 

Late Night Ramblings of a Mommy

It has been two months since I have been so abundantly blessed with my little miracle. I cannot even believe how the time has flown. I could kick myself for letting all of the little nothings in life impede me from properly documenting this amazing season. I had such lofty hopes of profound pieces alongside beautiful photos. Alas, life with a new little baby is tremendously busy. Not to mention my house, husband, and business… Just excuses.

Instead of lamenting my failure over the last two months I am going to accept the fact that I will not be composing something grand about my experience as a mother thus far. It just isn’t going to happen at this point in my life, unfortunately. However, I am going to stop waiting for the perfect words and the perfect time and just take a minute to talk about the little things. After all, it is all the little things that make up each of our unique journeys in life.

Levi is changing every day. His familiar little face is so different from the first moment I saw him. Silly me, it makes my heart ache to see how much bigger he is. I just want to hold on to these moments. I remember when he was only five days old I was feeling so upset about how fast the time was going, longing for him to stay small. Then my sister brought over my little nephew 8 weeks old and he was smiling at his mommy so much. It made me realize how much I looked forward to Levi smiling at me. Therefore the time passing wasn’t scary, as long as I treasured each moment and every little event in Levi’s growth.

The first time he smiled at me I remember distinctly. I got a lump in my throat as he tried to communicate his love for me through his little expression. It was amazing. He smiles at me all the time now and I am amazed how every single time it just melts my heart. He talks to me with his little angelic voice, letting me know he loves me. There are no words to describe the love I feel for this little person.

Life is full of all sorts of adventures in his small life. It makes me sad to think that my memory will allow all the cute little details to fade. But I am going to jot down a few things that literally fill my heart with joy. For weeks he has been trying desperately to suck his thumb. I don’t really want him to be a thumb sucker, but every time I see him trying to suckle I have to laugh at how cute it is. Even when I hear the little sucking noise when he is lying in his bed I smile. Such cute noises he makes. Recently he has found his hands to be very interesting. He is always playing with them, folding them and unfolding them, clasping his fingers. It is so precious.  

Since the moment he was born he was bright eyed and alert. That has been accentuated as he has gotten older. He loves to stare at so many things. My mom says that he sees angels. I am inclined to agree, he has such amazing peace upon him. If he is not staring off into one specific corner of the room, lately his eyes have been following me, tracking everywhere I am going. If he is lying on my bed and I am moving around he moves his head in order to see where I am. His eyes stay locked on me. I love it. Sometimes he gets the most adorable little worried expression. I am not even sure why, but his brows knit and he looks around like he is not sure about something. I love it. And his big, bright eyes, amazing. Sometimes they look perfectly round, they are so big. Oh man, he is a special boy.

There is one little detail that I want to get a picture of so badly. When he is going down for a nap and I go over to comfort him, I put his pacifier in his mouth and hold it in with my hand resting against his check and head. He takes both of his little hands and puts them on top of mine. It is as if he is trying to keep me there. It is the sweetest thing in the world.

Sometimes when he has been awake and fussy for a little while, we go out and sit on the deck together. I face him out and he quiets down immediately as his head bobs back and forth looking at everything there is to see. We have sat there for twenty minutes at a time as his eyes soak in the surroundings. He finds everything so interesting. I have moments of being happy when he is going down for a nap so that I can get stuff done. But after only a little while, I miss him. When I think I hear movement from his crib or a little noise I get excited that I can pick him up and cuddle him. My favorite thing in the word is when he cuddles on my chest, especially when he is awake and just looking around content to have his mommy’s arms around him. I just hope that he can feel how much he is loved.

I really can’t believe it has been two months. But at the same time, what did I ever do without this wonderful little person?

Well gone are the days of late night profundity and inspiration. But I would never revert back considering what I have now… late night ramblings of a mommy so in love.

A Family

I have been having such fun taking pictures of my baby. He is just the cutest, most photogenic little guy in the world. I got some of the most special pictures of him and his daddy when he was just eight days old. I even got to sneak in a few, Cory is becoming quite the good assistant and he is SO patient with me with all these pictures. Amazing to think that we are a family now.

The Countdown Begins

The days are flying by. I keep thinking it is still months away, and yet the days are really numbered now. I keep thinking I will wake up one day and be ready and prepared for this. But are you ever really ready? I don't know. I don't think I will have that moment of readiness before I am actually in the throws. And then I will have this perfect little baby that Cory and I brought into the world. What an amazing thought.

And so my belly is growing bigger every day... I updated my original post to see the belly growth (mostly) week by week.

 

The Road That Led Me Here

Continuing on a rather deep note, today’s prompt offers yet another opportunity for reflection and soul searching. What are the most important elements that impacted you to make you who you are today?

This was a pretty fun one for me. I feel like there are so many things that brought me to where I am today. Various decisions could be overlooked as insignificant, until hindsight demonstrates their import. I will just name a few of those elements which greatly impacted the course of my life. 

First, my parents homeschooled me for the entirety of my pre-college education. Because of this I maintained friends that were church friends, developed a great love for both reading and writing, and set myself a very high moral standard at a young age. I cannot even imagine how different my life would be if I had not been homeschooled. It was one of the best things my parents could have done for me.

Next, when I was ten my parents started our church. We built this church up as a family and through the years it has truly become our family ministry. Sixteen years has passed and the church is thriving and full of so many wonderful people. Being part of the infamous “PK” clan, all of us kids were the kind that stayed on the straight and narrow. Having a place in the ministry truly helped to feed a sensitive conscience. 

And third, we grew up in a reasonably small town. I had a small circle of strong Christian friends. I remember so many of them couldn’t wait to get out. I was never like that. I always loved where I lived. And yes, the opportunities were limited. But the limited opportunities helped to direct my course. For instance, so many people have told me that I should have done modeling, and the greatest thing that kept me from it was the many required trips to LA. If I lived in a big city, I probably would have. And my life would look totally different. 

And finally, it was a combination of all of these things which brought me to where I am today. I loved my family and the safe environment that they made for me so I didn’t want to go away to the city for college. Yet, I loved to learn and wanted to study English Literature. As a result I commuted or did online classes until I completed my BA. I dated and subsequently married one of my childhood friends. And Cory says that if I had gone to pursue any of those opportunities in the city he doesn’t think I would have married him. What a sad thought, since we have built up the most wonderful life together.

It is amazing the little decisions that you make (or your parents make when you are young) which mold you into the person you are. This is why it is ever so important to seek God and determine the perfect plan that He has for you while making any of those potentially life altering decisions. 

 
What decisions, instances, or people brought you to where you are today? Link below!

How to be an Awesome Parent Part 2

For those of you who are interested in my little ramblings on parenting, and have read my introduction, and part one, here are my next three points. This is where it gets a little bit tougher...

4. What do you do on Sundays?

My parents proclaim the importance of being in church every Sunday to everyone. What, you mean every Sunday? Yes, with the exception of some very rare or extreme cases, every Sunday. If we are out of town, we visit another church, but usually we will be in our own church every Sunday.

Growing up in this fashion, at a young age I understood the importance of church. I was not given an option to stay home. And slowly, as I got older, it was engrained into my mind so much that I had a conviction about missing church. Even as young as twelve or thirteen, if us kids had opportunities to go away for the weekend with friends, my parents would let us decide. Because they had taught us so well, and had such confidence in our character, they would leave the decision up to us. We would choose to go to church.

In addition to this at a young age we were all serving in church. This is an essential part to raising kids that will serve God. Whether it is helping to clean, set up chairs, be on the worship team or youth leaders, we all had our part.

Some people might think that this is a little overboard on the discipline of being in church every Sunday. But this was a critical move in my mom and dad’s parenting technique. It taught us at a young age consistency and discipline. In addition to this it encouraged us to put God first in our lives.

Don’t give me the, “well that worked for you, but it doesn’t mean it will work for me” crap stuff. God honors faithfulness. He honors those who honor him. These are very simple, straight forward, don’t have to be a genius to figure out, principles.

5. Do Not Be Over Wicked, Neither Be Over Wise. Discovering the balance

In my family my dad sometimes calls himself ‘captain carnal’ and my mom, ‘holy mother’. Although these names aren’t entirely true, they are a very good example of the balance that exists in my family. We are a good, strong, Christian family. But at the same time we don’t ask God to help us decide what we should eat for dinner.

This balance is a very difficult one for Christian families to achieve. It is absolutely necessary that you do not sway too much towards the ‘wicked’ side. But at the same time, if parents are too strict about religious expectations, it will cause their children to rebel. I have seen so many families who have had the idea of the ‘model Christian family’ but the children weren’t following what their parents believed.

It is different in every home. But what it comes down to is, don’t freak out about the little things that are not really “holy” but not harmful either. As parents you have to trust that you are giving your kids the principles they need for a strong Christian foundation, and then you have to let them make their own decisions. If you did your job right, they will make the right decision. And additionally, if you did your job right, you will not be worried, stressed out parents.

6. “We are Dunns”

Sometimes in the world people are so afraid of being different. They kind of want to blend in in the crowd and sneak through life without drawing attention to themselves.

Not so in our home. Since we were going to be different than the world anyway, my parents told us from the beginning so that we didn’t hear it from some rude kid on the block. They told us that we were Dunns, we were raised to be different than the rest of the world. And on top of that to be proud of it.

We were taught to be examples to others. We were taught that we upheld a higher standard than the rest of the world. We were Dunns, therefore we didn’t date every other person. We were Dunns, therefore we didn’t go to see rated R movies. Little things like this, as we were growing up established our characters individually so that we could form our own opinions and make our own decisions about what we felt was right and wrong. 

Any ideas? Thoughts? Comments? Advice? Leave them below!

Three Points to Being an Awesome Parent

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine... filled with church, family, laughter, and food :)

For those of you who read What I Have to Say About Parenting, here we go with all of my brilliant (and perhaps some not so brilliant) insights into the subject. It was so much harder than I thought to narrow everything I have to say into a blog post.... so here is part one.

 

1.Be Real

One of the most invaluable things in parenting is an ability to ‘be real’ as I call it. So many parents don’t even realize it but they operate on the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ principal. This is probably one of the most detrimental concepts that ever had the audacity to present itself in the home.

Be the example you proclaim. Hypocritical parents can turn their kids off to them, the family, and God. What are they going to think of you if they hear you professing what you believe, and instructing others how to act, if they see your “other side” at home? If you profess to be a Godly man or woman, then you surely need to show them that at home. Do your kids ever see you reading the bible? Do you implement the necessary elements of Christian living into your daily life? Because trust me, your kids are watching you. It is you they are learning from.

Starting from a very young age, children are looking to their parents to be examples of everything that they are told is right. This doesn’t mean that the parents will never make mistakes. But that is one of the most important parts of the ‘be real’ concept. Yes, everyone makes mistakes, even parents. But as a parent you should not avoid it or pretend like nothing happened. You have to confront the issue at hand so that you do not present confusion for your children. 

2.Open Lines of Communication

In my humble opinion, when going through the tough teenage years this is the most important element of parenting. Oftentimes parents don’t want to know and so they purposely look the other way. This is a critical mistake!

Kids need to know that you will listen without judging and encourage without condemnation. Don’t be afraid to talk about stuff, anything, and EVERYTHING. Most people would probably be shocked at the easy way all of us kids can talk about unmentionable things with our parents. But it is because of this, because we always knew we could talk to them, that we did not feel the need to go find the numerous dirty things in the world for ourselves.

Make it a point to ask your kids how they are doing, how things are going. Listen to each one as individuals and deal with them according to learning capabilities and reasoning. Discuss ideas, dreams, and plans. And listen, I mean truly listen, to your children. If you listen to what they have to say, they will go to you when they want someone to talk to. They will ask you for advice.

 

3.Find Your Disneyland

My dad claims that having fun is the third most important thing that he could have taught us. I mean, truly to enjoy life and live like you are doing it on purpose.

In our family we refer to Disneyland as our ‘happy place’. Find something that you all enjoy doing together as a family and do it often.

My parents made it so wonderful for all of us to be together as a family that we had no desire to look for fun anywhere else. Our friends became part of our family fun as opposed to us searching outside the home for a good time. They showed us the beauty of good, clean fun, which bonded all of us together.

It is really quite simple, you be the one to show your kids how wonderful life really is.